Old age home benefits after 'excessive ginger pricing' by Food Lovers Market

The Mohlakeng Old Age Home in Randfontein has welcomed a donation of essential food items worth just over R18,000 from Food Lover’s Market Holdings.

This comes after the Competition Tribunal confirmed a consent agreement between the Competition Commission and Food Lover’s Market Holdings, in which the firm agreed to stop excessive pricing for ginger sold at one of its stores.

The company agreed to donate essential goods worth R18,579.

The Competition Commission received information around May 14 about allegedly excessive prices being charged per kilogram of raw ginger at Food Lover’s Market branches in Hillfox and Westgate in Gauteng.

The commission found, and the company admitted, that the average mark-up and gross profit margins for raw ginger in May 2020 at its Westgate store were unreasonably high for an essential product during the state of national disaster, when compared with the mark-up and gross profit margin in the preceding period.

This amounted to a contravention of the Competition Act.

The commission said ginger was viewed as essential in terms of the consumer protection regulations.

In terms of the agreement, the company undertook to, among other things, immediately stop the excessive pricing conduct that was reported.

Monica Tekwane of the Mohlakeng Old Age Home said the donation was a welcome relief as finances were tight. “We went to Food Lover’s and we were received with warm hands.

“We are very grateful because we were able to get dry groceries, vegetables and meat. We got a lot of stuff we did not expect to receive,” Tekwane said.

“We are extremely grateful, more especially now during this difficult time. The elderly were also very happy. They even got fresh fruits — something they do not get often.”

Food Lover's told TimesLIVE that a manager made contact with representatives from the home and goods to the value of R18,579 were donated on July 16 2020.

TimesLIVE